Effects of Beauveria bassiana and acephate on enzyme activities and microbial diversity in paddy soil

To investigate the ecological safety of Beauveria bassiana in soil, we evaluated the effects of different concentrations of B. bassiana spores suspensions and acephate on paddy soil microbial flora and enzyme activities in a potted trial. Results showed that B. bassiana can increase the quantity of bacteria and fungi on day 10 and 30, while it showed inhibition on actinomycetes growth on day 10. However, acephate reduced the quantity of bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes in soil. Investigation of enzyme activities revealed that invertase activity declined during prophase, while urease activity decreased later in B. bassiana treatment groups, and there were no significant changes in alkaline phosphatase or dehydrogenase activity. Acephate showed higher inhibition rates of enzymes. B. bassiana treatment at lower concentrations showed a higher yield. Overall, compared with the acephate, B. bassiana is an effective, environmentally friendly microbial pesticide in this system.